Shootin’ some Monday Night Football Tonight! (and it’s contest time!)

OK, I am super psyched because tonight I’ll be shooting on the sidelines at the Monday Night Football Game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Denver Broncos at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, alongside my buddies Michael Benford and Matt Lange.

Monday Night Football is a grand sports tradition here in the US and it’s broadcast nationwide (as it’s the only pro football game that airs on Monday night—-all the rest play on Sunday). I know a lot of you will be watching, so I thought I would post this shot of me wearing pretty much what I’ll be wearing tonight (with black kneepads) and the beige vest and al — that way if you see a photographer get creamed by a receiver on the sidelines (or if Peyton Manning breaks my monopod), you’ll be able to tell if it’s me they’re carting off. ;-)

Let’s make it interesting with a “Scott Spotting Contest”
The first three people who take a photo of their TV Screen where you can see me, and post it, or a link to it, it either to my Facebook page (link), Tweets me with the photo (link), or posts it to my Google+ page (link) gets a signed copy of my new book, “Photoshop CS6 for Digital Photographers.”

Where I’m likely to be on the field:I generally shoot from these two areas:

(1) The End Zone (there’s less chance of refs, the chain gang, video crews, and the guy with the giant blue parabolic mic walking in front of your shot)

(2) Between the 15 yard line and the goal line.

However…
If I get flattened by a player during the game, the first person to visit me in the hospital (besides my wife), gets my entire Photoshop and Photography book library. I’m hoping we don’t have a winner for this one.

Can’t wait to share the shots with you guys (provided I get any decent ones), but tomorrow is the long-awaited “Life after Drobo” post so it’ll have to wait. Have a great Monday, and we’ll see you tonight. Well, you know what I mean. :) GO FALCONS!!! #RISE UP!!!

Posted by Scott Kelby

Scott is the President of KelbyOne, an online educational community for photographers, Photoshop and Lightroom users. He's editor and publisher of Photoshop User Magazine, Editor of "Lightroom magazine"; Conference Technical Chair for the Photoshop World Conference & Expo, and the author of a string of bestselling Photoshop, Lightroom, and photography books. You can learn more about Scott at http://scottkelby.com

Jeff — I’m shocked to see you rooting for the Broncos. It’s stuff like this that might make you lose you re-election bid for Chancellor of Birmingham. Hey, when are we shooting some Superbikes?

Tpchap

LOL, I’ll be watching. I’m wondering to which hospital they will take you.

http://scottkelby.com/ Scott Kelby

I’ll be careful! :-)

Hcphoto2u

What lens will you be using?

http://scottkelby.com/ Scott Kelby

Just what you see above — a 400mm f/2.8 and a 70-200mm f/2.8, but I’m also trying out a Sigma 15mm fisheye tonight, too which I’m psyched about. :)

Ronhixson

Have fun at the game. Great post except for the GO FALCONS thing. Ron in Denver.

http://scottkelby.com/ Scott Kelby

Sorry to hear that Ron — it’s going to be a long night for Broncos fans. ;-) #RISE UP!

Sandy

One day that will be me on the sidelines :)

http://scottkelby.com/ Scott Kelby

I’ll be rooting for you! :)

http://twitter.com/vinnyohare Vinny O’Hare

Have fun, I will be watching. Shooting a Falcons game from the sidelines is on my ultimate bucket list.

http://scottkelby.com/ Scott Kelby

It’s an absolute ball!!! The lighting in the Georgia Dome is a little tricky, but the atmosphere and the fans are hard to beat! :)

http://twitter.com/ZappCatt ZappCatt

so what is the doohickey holding your second camera…and what lens is that on second camera?

http://scottkelby.com/ Scott Kelby

That is a Black Rapid Strap, the best strap for stuff like this I’ve ever used (and was reminded of that fact last week when I didn’t have it). The 2nd lens is a 70-200mm f/2.8. :)

http://twitter.com/ZappCatt ZappCatt

Cool, ill check it out. Wow would never have guessed, looks totally different from my 80-200, especially the hood.

Joey Wright

I’ll be there shooting beside you guys as well… so stoked!!

http://scottkelby.com/ Scott Kelby

Joey — looking forward to seeing you there man!!! You are going to have a BLAST!!!! :)

http://www.facebook.com/tom.good.583 Tom Good

A chance to win your entire Library???!!!!
Been wanting to vist the inlaws, so catch a morning flight and watch the game
at the Atlanta Med Ctr E/R (closest to Stadium) and wait to see if they wheel you in!
Nah, cheaper to buy the ones I don’t have at PSW Vegas 2013!
Besides, I don’t want to jinx you on the sidelines.
Have a great time Scott!

http://scottkelby.com/ Scott Kelby

Thanks Tom (especially for not jinxing me). :)

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1673943390 Amy Poché

And is that the CS6 Beta tee? Total fashion statement!

http://scottkelby.com/ Scott Kelby

It’s actually a Fender Guitar shirt, but that’s close enough for me. :-)

Stacy W

That’s awesome! I really would like to see a contest with a giveaway to shoot with you at a Bucs game!

http://scottkelby.com/ Scott Kelby

We went down that path once stacy — it was NOT well received by some in the sport photography community (to say the least). Here’s the link: http://scottkelby.com/2009/a-great-day-for-sports-photography/ but in the end, it actually turned out great (here’s that link: http://scottkelby.com/2012/this-story-about-photography-is-about-much-more-than-photography/) but suffice it to say, I’m not going down that rabbit hole again. :(

Snflynn61

Having read the post on your prize that never was and the following comments i would like to add it can be just the same in the UK. I recently covered a Rugby game where a “Pro” sent by a National paper was sat in the Rugby equivallent of the End Zone during the game selecting and sending his images! He made no effort to get out of the way as 20 players ran towards him! I am slowly working my way into the paid Sports Photography world and have met with some really great assistance from Pro’s and Photo editors, however, i have also met some of the pettiest, egotistical plonkers you could have the misfortune to deal with. Keep up the great posts Scott, love your NFL images. Next time you come to the UK you should come and watch Rugby…..same hits…but no padding!

http://www.facebook.com/stacylesherwhite Stacy Lesher White

Completely understand and feel sorry for Alex. Your shots from the sidelines are always amazing!

kentoney

You know they always go easy on photogs……wear a helmet. :)

http://scottkelby.com/ Scott Kelby

Great advice Ken! :)

Annie

Unless I missed it when are you going to do your review on your MBP retina? You mentioned that you will in your pass blogs. Thanks.

http://scottkelby.com/ Scott Kelby

Annie: I’m waiting for Adobe to update either Lightroom or Photoshop to support the Retina display — then I can give it a decent review. :)

Kenzuk

Can you tell us which hospital they would take you to? That would give us all a fair shot to get there in the unlikely event that one of us has a chance to win the book collection.

:)

http://scottkelby.com/ Scott Kelby

Probably Emory University Midtown Hospital would be my guess, but I’m going to do my darndest to only see it in the taxi on my way to the dome tonight. ;-)

John Swarce

Have an awesome time tonight, Scott! Always fun to play the “Spot Scott” game while watching some football. I think it would help us immensely if Brad tricked out the monopod with flame decals or yellow tape like your last one. Much easier to pick you out from the crowd of photographers! Or does that make you more of a QB magnet?? Stay out of the ER’s please…..

–John

http://scottkelby.com/ Scott Kelby

Hi John. I checked last night and either Brad removed all the yellow tape, or he has me using a different monopod (though it seems to be the same Gitzo I alway use). I’ll keep an eye out for racing running backs. :)

Brian

Good luck at the game tonight. You certainly appear to be living your dreams. I know that you’ve written many books on photography, but I have a suggestion for a different kind of book. How about a book about yur life, your business, your philosophy, etc.. From our vantage point, things appear to be working out very well for you. You must have made many good decisions to get to this point (I’m sure there were bumps along the way as well). I would be interested in how you approach life, and I bet others would be interested also. – Brian

http://scottkelby.com/ Scott Kelby

Hi Brian: I don’t know if there’s a whole book there (well, not one that would sell any copies, anyway), but I did an interview with Ibarionex Perello that is very different from my other interviews, and it answers a lot of those types of questions. Here’s the link: http://thecandidframe.blogspot.com/2011/08/candid-frame-119-scott-kelby.html, then click the Audio Stream link on the bottom left side of the page. Also, check out my online interview with my buddy Glyn Dewis right here: http://scottkelby.com/2012/maybe-my-most-in-depth-interview-ever/ Between those two, it’s pretty much all there. Many thanks. :)

Darren Elias

Good luck, Scott, and have fun!

http://scottkelby.com/ Scott Kelby

Thanks Darren! :)

Ken

I’m sorry Scott, you’ve got it all wrong. Go Broncos!!

Rocphoto

Scott,
Which Long lens are you using? Do you see a big difference with the results with the D4 when shooting with the 200-400? Which Knee pads work best? Thanks for all that you share!!

http://www.nolanfocus.com/ Nicholas Wall

Go Broncos (and Manning)! The Saints need all the help they can get. I’ll be looking out for you on the tube.

Also, Looking forward to tomorrow’s post!

http://www.goodsmithstudio.com/ Denver Engagement Photographer

Awesome! Enjoy. :)

http://twitter.com/SoonerMike88 Michael Reeves

Hey Scott,
I’ll be watching tonight. I am a Cowboys fan, My wife is a Bucs fan, so I like the Bucs by default. Next week, that’s a different story though. The Bucs sure let me down yesterday. I sure wanted the hated Giants to lose.
Good luck tonight buddy, I know you will get some great shots.
Mike

wgchinn

Google bought Nik Software! Comments?

http://twitter.com/lroz22 LRoszyk

Scott, I know you’ve probably answered this a thousand times, but could you post your equipment and settings for a shoot like this. Thanks in advance & GO FALCONS!!! #RISE UP!!! x2